On the dinner table of a Chinese family, it’s quite important to serve food that is nutritious, balanced with veggies and grains, bursting with flavor, and beautiful to the eyes. Cashew chicken is no doubt a winner by these metrics.

The chicken breast is briefly marinated, resulting in juicy, tender bites that are very flavorful. The sauce is made from rich oyster sauce, a touch of vinegar, some soy sauce, some sugar, and tons of aromatics, which combine to make the sauce very fragrant, gingery, and garlicky. Then you finish up the dish with colorful peppers and nutty cashews. Scoop a spoonful with some hot steamed rice. Oh my, it’s like an amusement park in your mouth!

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Cooking notes

1. No wok required!

If you, like me, don’t own a gas stove, the best way to cook this dish is to use a large nonstick pan. Not only does it create juicy chicken with less oil, but the finished dish will taste as great as if you had cooked it in a wok. I wrote a lengthy post (wok vs. stir fry pan) to explain the reasons behind this. Long story short – your home stove usually cannot generate enough heat for wok cooking. So a large flat non-stick pan is your next best choice.

2. What cut of chicken to use

The authentic Chinese version uses chicken breast, and so does the recipe below. But if you like a rich and fattier texture, boneless, skinless chicken thighs work perfectly, too.

3. Marinating

I cannot emphasize this enough. This key step takes an extra three minutes but will make such a difference to your dish. Using Shaoxing wine and salt makes the chicken so much more flavorful. The cornstarch protects the chicken from the hot pan so it won’t be overcooked. It’s especially important for chicken breast because it can dry out so easily if you leave it in the pan a bit too long.

4. The sauce

I believe you should always use high-quality oyster sauce (such as LKK oyster sauce) in this dish instead of hoisin sauce, to create a richer taste. If you cannot find oyster sauce, a good hoisin sauce (such as LKK hoisin sauce) will be the next best choice.

5. How to make the dish gluten-free

Making this dish gluten-free is a bit challenging, but not impossible.

6. Before you start cooking

Make sure you have all the ingredients ready near your stove. Chinese stir fry is a very fast-moving process. Once you heat up the pan, the cooking won’t take more than 4 to 5 minutes. So it’s very important that you’ve got everything ready to go and that you’ve read through the recipe.

7. Bonus tip – make prep faster

As a creature of habit, I use tons of aromatics, such as fresh ginger and garlic, in all my cooking throughout the week. I’ve found these ingredients to be the best way to boost the flavor of a dish without adding tons of salt. So on the weekend, I usually chop a LOT of them (like 1 to 2 bulbs of garlic and 1 big ginger root) and save them in small airtight containers. They stay good for quite a few days and having them ready speeds up my prep time tremendously.

Stir fry

Instructions

Combine chicken, Shaoxing wine, salt, and cornstarch in a medium-sized bowl. Mix well so the chicken is evenly coated with a thin slurry.

Mix all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Spread the chicken with minimal overlapping. Let cook until the bottom side is light golden, 1 minute or so. Turn to the other side and cook until light golden. Stir a few times until all surfaces turn white. Transfer the chicken to a big plate.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, garlic, ginger, and green onion. Stir a few times to release the fragrance.

Add the peppers. Stir and cook until the peppers just turn tender, 1 to 2 minutes.

Stir the sauce again to dissolve the cornstarch completely. Pour into the pan. Quickly stir a few times until the sauce thickens. Return the chicken to the skillet and mix again.

Add the cashews, quickly give it a stir and immediately transfer everything to a plate.

Serve hot over steamed rice as a main dish.

Notes

See the cooking notes in the blog post above for information on how to make this dish gluten-free.

Disclosure

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I love dishes made with oyster sauce, it just has such a wonderful flavor. And cashews….yum. What great tip on prepping too! I use garlic constantly, and am not sure why I never thought to prep it for the week. Great idea!

This was good. I mean really good. Did I say good? After bringing home a blah stir-fry from a local restaurant, I decided to look for a sauce that could save this dish. I wanted edible, but, YUM! Delucious and authentic. I chose this recipe because I was excited to see Shaoxing wine and Chinkiang vinegar which I can be a bit intimidated about using. This recipe not only saved my $15 stir-fry, but had me in Cashew Chicken Heaven. Not too sweet. Nice depth of flavors. I really enjoyed and cannot wait to try other recipes, especially the bitter melon. I always see at Asian Market, but this time, I am going for it. Thank you.

There are quite a few ways to make this dish spicy. Such as: (1) Add cayenne powder (I would start with 1/4 teaspoon) or mild Chinese chili powder (start with 1 teaspoon) in the sauce (2) Add whole dried chili pepper on step 4 after you added the oil, along with the aromatics. It takes 2 to 3 spicy peppers (such as Thai peppers) or a handful of mild peppers (such as Chinese lantern or bullet-head peppers) to make the dish spicy. (3) Or you could add some doubanjiang (fermented chili bean paste) to the sauce, which is a great way to add rich savory flavor too.

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Hi, I’m Maggie!

Welcome to my site about modern Chinese cooking, Asian inspired dishes, and classic recipes cooked in my small Austin Kitchen. When it comes to cooking, getting the best taste is always my priority, but I try to take a less labor-intensive approach. Originally from Beijing, now I live in the US and travel around the world. Start browsing recipes right away or you could learn more about me here.